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Exterior Design Considerations for Your Urban Infill Housing

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Published: 20 January 2015

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If you choose to go down the urban infill housing route, then it's important for your new structure to blend in with the surrounding environment. An infill house needs to be built to coexist with other nearby buildings if it is to integrate well within the community. The goal isn't just to create new housing but to help revitalize the community and area with the look and style that makes that particular place unique. It may sound simple enough to do, but there are quite a few things you need to take into account.

The first thing you need to do is to look at the surrounding neighborhood. Pay particular attention to the location and size of driveways. There are many architectural features to take into account, such as: do other homes have porches? Do they have bay windows? Do they have chimneys and if so what kind of style are they?

This is not to say that your urban infill housing needs to be identical to its neighbors. It does however, need to blend in. Windows don't have to be placed in identical positions to neighbors – instead, consider where a window will maximize your view while still preserving your privacy.

The point then, is not to create a home that will stick out like a sore thumb, neither is it to create a duplicate of the other homes. This is a job for an architect so fine an experienced and skilled individual to help you achieve the right balance. An architect will also take into account the topography of your lot to help create a sense of scale. It's important to match grade lines, and floor and roof heights in order to create a natural equilibrium with adjacent homes.

There’s nothing worse than a huge house imposing its presence on a quiet community. The problem is that many people who hope to build a large home actually do need the space. They may have a large family for example. Again, an architect will help to break down the mass of the home and also implement various architectural features in order to create the illusion of a less imposing building and one that matches the others nearby.

Many homes define the transition between public and private with the use of gates or steps. This advice may come as no surprise but it's important that you match the style of surrounding homes when it comes to these transitional elements too.

One of the largest aesthetic aspects of a home is the roof and there are various designs on display even in a well-established community. This means you have some leeway when it comes to picking your own style of roofing. Pitched roofs can help reduce the look of a bulky home and are the most popular option, so you’ll probably find this style is already being used by most of your neighbors.

It may sound like a lot of hard work to create urban infill housing that integrates well, but the sense of achievement you get from building a home whilst taking into account the considerations of the surrounding community is great. A custom infill home builder like Sunset Homes can help you will all of these considerations and ensure that your new home fits in well with the inner city community.